Woman to fight charges in Tenn. airport pat-down

A woman charged with disorderly conduct after a dispute with security screeners at the Nashville airport intends to fight the charges.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A woman charged with disorderly conduct after a dispute with security screeners at the Nashville airport intends to fight the charges.

Forty-one-year-old Andrea Abbott, of Clarksville, Tenn., was arrested last month after airport police said she was belligerent, refusing a body scan and then a pat-down for herself and her 14-year-old daughter.

She eventually allowed her daughter to be screened but then walked away, refusing to be patted down herself, according to a police report.

Defense attorney Brent Horst said in an interview Monday that he feels Abbott did nothing illegal.

He said she simply exercised her first amendment rights in telling airport officials why she disagreed with them.

A hearing on the charges is scheduled for Monday afternoon in Nashville in Davidson County General Sessions Court.